From Ron Brown Scholars at Cornell, Columbia, Alpha Phi Alpha, & Denver East,
thank you for investing in us
by pushing us to invest in ourselves.
Ron Brown Venture Lab
What happened in 2017?
By Ray Pryor, IV (RBS '15), Founding Director of the Ron Brown Venture Lab
Of all 30 classes of Ron Brown Scholars & Captains that have leaders in technology and innovation, one class stands out ahead of the rest.
The Class of 2017 was the most represented among the startups to receive financial support from the Ron Brown Venture Lab in 2025, as well as the class with the highest density of talent within tech and startups more broadly as of July 2026. Why?
Ron Brown Venture Lab
Forward Deployed
Ron Brown Scholars
Accelerating the growth and impact of Ron Brown alumni who are shaping the future of technology - as builders, backers, and operators.
Ron Brown Venture Lab
Meet the RBS Startups in the SF Bay Area
From automating trillion dollar industries and transforming digital retail to teleoperative robotics and capturing rare minerals.
Ron Brown Venture Lab
Meet the RBS Founders in New York City
From former leaders at Apple, Meta, and General Catalyst to a sibling duo who scaled from their brownstone in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
Ron Brown Venture Lab
The State of Ron Brown Founders: Half a Billion Dollars and Counting
By Ray Pryor, IV (RBS '15), Founding Director of the Ron Brown Venture Lab
$0.5B and counting
To date, over half a billion dollars has been deployed into startups and VC firms founded and led by Ron Brown Scholars and Captains from investors like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Kleiner Perkins, Thrive Capital, Greylock Partners, GV (Google Ventures), Village Global, Seven Seven Six Ventures, Kapor Capital, Harlem Capital, Y-Combinator, Antler, ODF, 500 Global, and more.
Ron Brown Venture Lab
RBS is technology itself
By Ray Pryor, IV (RBS '15), Founding Director of the Ron Brown Venture Lab
A popular idiom in tech is “the network is the product” where the innovation is not in the specific thing a company produces (if they actually produce anything at all), but rather in the ecosystem they create, grow, and strengthen over time.
Ron Brown Venture Lab
We already found the “Lost Einsteins”
By Ray Pryor, IV (RBS '15), Founding Director of the Ron Brown Venture Lab
Dr. Raj Chetty, the foremost economist on the state of the American Dream and social mobility, coined the term the “Lost Einsteins.”
These are people who demonstrated high potential early in life, but due to insufficient opportunities because of their backgrounds as underrepresented minorities, do not become innovators like their peers. According to Chetty, the U.S. would have approximately 4X as many inventors if women, underrepresented minorities, and children from low-income families became inventors at the same rate as high-income white men.
Opportunity Insights · Research
Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation
The “Lost Einsteins” paper on who becomes an inventor in America, and how much talent we leave behind.
Ron Brown Venture Lab
Introducing the Theresa Collective
The Ron Brown Venture Lab is launching the Theresa Collective, a cohort-based fellowship and microgrant program supporting Ron Brown Scholars and Captains who are using technology to solve important problems.
Each quarter, a small cohort receives a $1,000 microgrant, peer-learning sessions, one-on-one mentorship, and a cohort showcase.
Visit RBS Connect to learn more and apply.